South Africa Orders Probe After Controversial AIDS Drug Resurfaces

On Tuesday, South African Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang ordered the Medicine Control Council to probe claims that a dubious AIDS treatment is being openly sold on the Internet, a ministry spokesperson said. Virodene, which contains an industrial solvent, was marketed by Pretoria-based researchers as a cure for AIDS in 1997, but the product was rejected by MCC after a 22-month inquiry.

"This product is not registered in South Africa and we have learnt from the [opposition Democratic Alliance party] that it is being marketed on a Web site," said Sibani Mngadi. "We have asked the MCC to look at the issues around the marketing of the product."

The Web site is "claiming that the drug is safe and efficacious in treating HIV/AIDS and that the MCC gave approval for it in July 1996," said Dianne Kohler Barnard, the opposition's health spokesperson.

"I had hoped it was a thing of the past," said Fatima Hassan of the Johannesburg-based AIDS Law Project. "Virodene is a chemical substance which is extremely toxic and there are no medical benefits in using it. The Health Department must send an unambiguous message that there is no place for it in South Africa."

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